


The Cave

by TheLordTaxus



Category: Ayralef, Fantasy - Fandom, Felarya, Horror - Fandom, sci-fi/fantasy - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:34:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23930146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLordTaxus/pseuds/TheLordTaxus
Summary: Colonel Anna Demorah's squad goes looking for lost children and finds more than they bargained for.Set three years before Enter Ayralef.





	The Cave

“Hey, Colonel, Captain Polus is at the gate to see you. Says it's important.”  
Anna looked up from her desk to her platoon sergeant and frowned. “That's what he said last time when he wanted extra rations for his men. And before that when he wanted plywood for his checkpoints that he ended up selling for a profit. It's always something important with that asshole. Take Lucas down there and get the details.”  
“He says he'll only talk to you, Colonel.”  
This was a new development. Anna’s regiment had been on this joint training mission for two months. Manning two dozen outposts spread along a dozen miles, the slice of hell they were responsible for was a small of a town called Revis, not far from the border with a place called Evernight. Officially Captain Freddan Polus was the leader of that town's Imperial garrison, but basically it was just a bunch of thugs. Unofficially he ran the place. He was smart, cunning, and extremely dangerous. He was also good at keeping order in the town and surrounding lands through guile when possible and force when required. Anna had suspected for months that even though ordered to jointly patrol with her squads he had no intention to do so. The Delurans, whom he considered invaders and outsiders, were not to be trusted.  
“Well, Sergeant Thomas, I guess you'd better bring the fucker in then.” Anna said as she put sensitive papers into her desk.  
Anna hardly recognize the man escorted into her office. The brash, confident Imperial officer she'd grown used to dealing with was gone and in his place is a furtive wreck. Polus took a seat across from Anna and accepted the coffee Thomas offered him. Anna noticed there were deep circles under his eyes like he hadn’t slept in days. His hands are shaking visibly and he had trouble holding the cup. Polus was terrified. Anna couldn’t begin to say how much that scared her.  
“Thank you for agreeing to see me, Colonel Demorah. You will of course be realizing that I only come to you this way out of grave necessity.” Polus said as took a drink from the shaking cup, spilling some of the steaming brew.  
“Well, past experiences aside, it does strike me as pretty damn odd that you'd suddenly ask for help. Even though ordered to cooperate with us and train together per treaty you have refused and patrolled separately. So I figured there was at least a chance it might be worth my interest. Let me guess: your troops need more plywood for their cabins? All you have ever done is mooch supplies out of me.”  
“Would that it was. I suppose I deserve that. I admit I have certainly taken advantage of certain...situational realities in the past,” Polus’s eyes grow hard, “But I would ask that you not make jokes at the expense of the dead.”  
Anna sat up straighter. “Are you telling me...”  
“All of them, save myself and three others. Two nights ago.”  
“Polus, you had more than fifty soldiers under your command. What the fucking hell happened?” Anna asked in disbelief.  
The broken man continues to face her, but his gaze was far away.  
“Why just that, Colonel Demurah. Hell happened.”  
Four hours after Anna’s conversation with Polus and she was riding shotgun in her patrol truck down a muddy road. There were three more of her trucks in the convoy following the Imperial officer on horseback. All told she only had twenty of her troops with her, other ten needed back on guard at the outpost. She didn't want to lie to her commander, but she didn't want to get committed either. Telling him she needed concentrate her regiment to go monster hunting just wasn't going to fly. She could only hope this will be enough.  
Some of the townspeople had come to Polus earlier in the week. Kids had started going missing. The only signs were strange marks leading off into the forest, like something huge and heavy was dragging itself among the trees. They pleaded with him to send his guards after the kids and he complied. Maybe he wasn’t quite the bastard Anna thought he was. Polus managed to follow the marks to a natural cave dug into the side of a hill deep in the forest, several miles from even rudimentary civilization. Anna was still unsure exactly what to believe of the rest of Polus's story. She’d known the man for long enough to be sure that something happened but...God, she hoped he was lying to her. Or crazy. Bandits and the strange humanoid factions are one thing. Living nightmares that slaughtered and ate your troops in front of you? That's something else entirely.  
It was twilight, the moon just starting to peek up over the horizon. Unfortunately nasty weather was heading in, not uncommon as winter is very wet along the border, and the clouds were going to block any illumination. Anna wished she could have done this mission during the daylight. Her gut told her this could go sideways really fast. If she knew exactly what they were going after, a bandit den say, doctrine supports a night strike since their tech would make them unbeatable. But going in on half blind intelligence, and with the insane stories Polus was spouting, she was not too keen facing monsters in the dark. Her conscience won't let her wait though; if kids are missing, and she was sure Polus was telling the truth about that, it had to be now.  
She had briefed her squads on exactly what Polus had told her. It took her a little while to decide whether or not she was going to but, ultimately, she'd rather they have an idea of what they might be up against. Worst case scenario she end up looking like a jackass. Best case, maybe it eliminates hesitation and saves lives. She could only hope they were so lucky.  
For anyone who had only ever lived in a city, it's almost impossible to appreciate how absolutely empty and dark the forest can be, Anna thought. Night had truly fallen now and, with the clouds totally blanketing the sky, only the chem light tied to Polus’s horse ahead offered only a faint reminder of day. She had ordered her trucks to drive blacked out; convoys at night are easy prey for even the merely wannabe monsters such as bandits.  
They had left the road behind thirty minutes ago. Bouncing along, the tall trees rising up on either side of them, forming tunnel. It was like traveling down a narrow hallway walled with trees; it's anyone's guess what was at the other end. Anna glance over at Huber, her driver. His face is set, eyes straight ahead, hands tightly gripping the wheel. The banter that would normally accompany one of their missions is nowhere to be found.  
Abruptly the way opened into a large clear area about fifty yards across and ringed by trees. Ahead the far end of the clearing was capped by a large hillock about thirty feet high. Polus raised a magic lantern and its beam fixed on a yawning hole at its base that seemed to bore into the hill. He reined in his horse and dismounted.  
Anna called over the radio. “All right, boys and girls, I guess this is the place. Establish a perimeter with the trucks around this clearing, then dismount. Drivers and gunners stay with the vehicles. Everyone else meet me in the center.”  
Checking to make sure her rifle was loaded and her grenades were accessible in their pouches Anna shoved open the heavy door of the vehicle and stepped down to the ground. Since they were driving without lights, she was already wearing her night vision goggles and the entire world showed up in her monocular sight as alternating shades of black and green. She moved to the middle of the perimeter and wait for the squads to join her.  
Sergeant Thomas was the first one there.  
“Ma’am,” he said, “I am again going to reiterate that you should not be going in on this mission. We don't know what’s down there and you're too important to risk.”  
“I appreciate the concern, Sergeant, but you know my philosophy is lead from the fucking front. I can't very well ask you to go down the scary dark monster hole if I'm not willing to and besides,” Anna said and then grimaced, “leaving two men per truck out here means we only have twelve trigger-pullers including me. Whatever is down there killed almost fifty of Polus's guards; you're going to need all the help you can get.”  
He grabbed Anna’s vest and pulls her in closer. “Dammit, ma’am, then swap out with one of the drivers!”  
“No, Thomas. I'm going and that's it. Now let go and shut the fuck up before the rest of the men get here.” Anna snarled.  
Thomas let go and stepped back. “Fine, but I've got two conditions, ma’am. Number one, lead from the front or not, you let second squad go first.”  
“Fair enough. What's number two?”  
“If shit starts going south in there, we are pulling your ass out of the fire.”  
“Sergeant, if things go south, I don't think you'll have the chance.” Anna sighed.  
Anna’s platoon sergeant reluctantly backed off. The troops had begun to trickle in so he makes himself busy doing final checks of weapons and gear. Anna appreciate his concern, but there's no way she sending her boys ‘n girls into this situation on their own. If something happens, she needed to know about it.  
The strike team was fully assembled. A light rain began to fall as Anna turned to find Polus standing next to her.  
“You see the hole there, Colonel Demurah? It is the mouth of hell itself. I wish you the very best of luck, my friend, and for your safe return.” he turned to go but Anna grabbed him by the arm.  
“Oh, I'm sorry, Captain Polus, I think you have the wrong idea of what's happening here. You're coming with us.” If it weren't impossible Anna could swear she could see him blanch through her goggles.  
“Ah, but surely you jest? For it is very dark in the cave and the last thing I would want to do would be to draw attention to your party with a light,” he smiles nervously, “and I do not have access to the wonderful equipment you do.”  
“Well lookie here,” Anna said, holding up a pair of goggles, “I seem to have found a spare set!”  
Polus flew into a rage, arms wide, spit spraying from his mouth. “No! I will not go down there again! You cannot make me you damned Deluran...” he tapered off when he felt the barrel of Sergeant Thomas's rifle in the small of his back. “Please,” he pleaded, “Please, my friend. Do not make me throw my life away.”  
Anna leaned in close, talking low into the short, fat man's ear. “Now you listen to me, Polus. If what you're telling me is really down there then I'm an even bigger bastard than you for making you go in there again. But here's the thing,” she continued, “what you're telling me is fucking crazy. For all I know you sold your fucking ass out to someone and I'm walking my troops into a real nice ambush. So I'll give you a choice. You can go with us where I can promise you at least have a chance of surviving, or you can die out here right now.” Anna stepped back, holding the goggles toward him. “What's it gonna be?”  
A look of pure despair passes across the man's face. Shoulders slumped, he took the goggles from Anna’s outstretched hand, completely defeated. Putting them on he turned away and began walking toward the looming hole.  
“You're wrong, Colonel Demorah,” he called back to Anna, “I am a dead man either way.”  
The rain had picked up steadily and thunder rolled ominously in the distance.  
“God help me, but I hope your wrong,” Anna said under her breath. “All right, boys and girls, let's go. Make sure you have positive I.D. on any targets; remember, there might be kids in there. Second squad, lead out.”  
With that Anna and her two squads slowly move forward, the sinister entryway beckoning them onward to face what horrors Anna could only imagine.  
The hole yawned wide and deep, its top reaching almost halfway up the mound. Sergeant Solis and the four soldiers comprising second squad cautiously move forward in formation. Still sulking, Polus joined Anna a little ways behind them while Sergeant Thomas and first squad brought up the rear. The rain continued to fall and showed no sign of stopping. If it kept up like this they might have issues getting the trucks out of the mud and back to the road.  
‘Well, on the bright side, I'll only have to worry about washouts if I get out of this cave alive.’ Anna thought as she entered the cave.  
They were about ten feet from the entrance when a familiar, unmistakable odor hit Anna; the cave smelled of death. Walking through the entryway, the stagnant air intensified the stench, wielding it like a weapon. Ahead she hear someone in second squad retch.  
The cave itself was actually more like a semicircular tunnel, about fifteen feet high and ten feet wide. Pushing forward the first thing Anna noticed, other than the sickening smell, was that the walls were smooth and unnatural. For about twenty five feet the entire expanse from floor to ceiling is covered with strange cave art, fantastic symbols that bore a passing resemblance to ancient runes in writings Anna had come across during her studies on fairy culture. One small section of the tunnel roof appeared to have collapsed, disrupting the otherwise unbroken pattern of art. Whatever paint was used to transcribe the symbols glowed with a faint luminescence giving the passage a disconcertingly eerie feeling. The tunnel seemed to slope gradually downward. Rather than simply leading into the hill the hole burrowed into the ground itself, how deep Anna could only guess. She saw movement ahead as Specialist Banes from second squad jogged up to her. The kid looked scared.  
“Ma’am, Sergeant Solis says you need to come take a look at what she's got up there.”  
“Ok. What the fuck is it?” Anna asked as she hurried along.  
“She said not to tell you, said it's something you've gotta see for yourself.”  
“Why didn't she call me on the radio?” Anna said tapping her com.  
“Tried, ma’am, radio's out.”  
Anna keyed her hand mic, futilely trying to reach the trucks just fifty yards behind her.  
“Dammit to hell. Must be something in these walls screwing with the signal. Banes, keep going back to Sergeant Thomas and tell him to send a couple guys to let the trucks know they won't be able to talk to us while we're down here. Then meet up with me and Sergeant Solis.” Anna said as she prodded the Imperial officer. “Come on, Polus, let's go see what the fuss is all about.”  
The Imperial officer sighed resignedly, “I think you have a very good idea what it is, Colonel Demorah, as I have already told you.”  
They continue forward another fifty yards before Anna reached second squad and discovered the source of the smell. Dozens of bodies cover the floor of the cave, torsos ripped open and limbs strewn about in a mess of gore. The blood had dried but based on the smell the remains hadn’t been there long. All of the corpses exhibited wounds that appeared to have been caused by something incredibly sharp while some were literally torn apart. Holding her breath against the stench Anna leaned down to take a closer look at one of the corpses. The body was headless and missing its right arm at the shoulder where it was messily torn off. The shredded remains of the clothing and armor left on the body suggest it was from local Imperial forces. Its stomach had been ripped open and huge chunks of the guts seem to be missing almost as if...something had been eating it. A sharp pang of fear shot down Anna’s spine as she stepped back from the thing that used to be a human body.  
“Polus, you son of a fucking bitch, I'm starting to think you just may have been telling the truth.” Anna said as she fought the urge to vomit.  
She look around until she saw Sergeant Solis who beckoned to her from where she stood a little ways farther down the tunnel. As Anna approached her there is a look of silent rage etched across the Sergeant’s face, one arm outstretched and pointing to a pile of human and neko bones completely picked clean of flesh and tissue. They were so very, very small. Anna felt her heart break.  
Led by Specialist Bane, Sergeant Thomas came hustling up from the rear. He took in the scene before turning to Anna and holding out a remote trigger.  
“Banes filled me in. I took the liberty of prepping the tunnel entrance with explosives before coming down here. I highly recommend we withdraw back to the trucks and seal whatever the fuck is in here to rot.”  
Numbly Anna took the trigger from him.  
“There might be more kids down there, Sergeant.” Anna said quietly as she stared at the bones.  
“Ma’am,” Thomas's voice cracked, “you know there's not.”  
Anna thought for a long moment. The gibbering caveman part of her brain told her there was nothing more it wanted to do than leave this hole far behind and escape back to the relative sanity and safety of the patrol base. But the rational part, the one she’d spent years training to perform under incredibly stressful situations, disagreed. What Sergeant Thomas said was probably true; the odds of there being any live kids down in this shit hole was almost zero. But on the other hand, there was no telling where this tunnel went, or if there were other exits the creature could use to escape if they destroyed the entrance they came through. If that was the case there would be nothing to stop it from killing again. Nothing to stop it from feeding. There was only one way to make sure that these bones would be the last.  
“Sorry, Thomas.” Anna replied. “We'll seal the entrance as a last resort, but we have to make sure we stop this sonuvabitch for good. And by my estimation, the best way to do that is to shoot the fucker until it's in too many different pieces to be a threat. We keep going.”  
Anna paused and turned to the Imperial officer. “Polus, I'm sorry for doubting you earlier but it looks like you were being honest with me. It doesn't seem right to drag you any further into this mess after what happened to you. You're free to leave. I can't spare an escort, but you're welcome to keep the goggles on while on your way out if you promise to pass them to my driver once you reach the trucks.”  
The Imperial griped Anna’s shoulder, a grave look upon his face. “You are a good officer, Colonel Demorah. And I think, in different circumstances, perhaps a good friend. I shall wait for you at the entrance. I will pray that if ever the gods watched over you that they do it this night.” Moving rapidly, he disappeared toward the entryway.  
Looking after Polus, Sergeant Solis hocks up phlegm and spits to the side, “What a pussy.”  
The casual bravado made Anna smile. “Agreed. But I'll do my best not to judge him too harshly until we find the thing that did this. Your squad ok with staying on point, Solis?”  
“Ma’am,” Solis's voice was as cold as ice, “It will be my absolute pleasure.”  
“I've got a feeling this tunnel is going to start to honeycomb.” Anna said. “Use your gut to pick a route, or follow the stench. Radios are worthless down here so don't get ahead farther than shouting distance. Tell the boys ‘n girls to stay sharp. Weapons free. If it moves, shoot it until it fucking stops."  
“No worries there, ma’am. Let's go, second!” She turned and the squad begins making its way deeper down the tunnel. Thomas was left standing by Anna who watched them go.  
“I'll keep the rear. But remember what we agreed to, ma’am.” He said quietly  
“I remember, Sergeant. Keep them alert and mark the way back to the entrance with IR chem lights. If this hole starts to branch off, and I am sure it will, I don't want to get lost down here and I really don't want this thing sneaking up behind us.” Anna said and walked off to join second squad.  
Anna followed close behind second squad. Just as she suspected, the tunnel soon began to branch off into multiple forks, sometimes as many as three or four different paths at an intersection. The darkness was now absolute, the strange glowing markings near the entrance of the cave a distant memory. She reached up and keyed the IR flood on the side of her goggles, washing the expanse of the tunnel in a beam of invisible light that helped her goggles be more effective. As they moved ever deeper into the abyss, Anna became sharply aware of the crushing weight of the earth around her. She was not claustrophobic, but down here she may as well have been.  
They traveled for what seemed like hours but, upon checking her watch, Anna saw only fifteen minutes had passed. Solis seemed to pick the route at random. Right, left, second from the left; Anna tried to keep track but after seven or eight turns she knew it would be impossible to remember them all. Doing some quick mental calculations, she realized if this went on much longer they would have to double back because the first chem lights would be starting to run out. Anna curse inwardly; it would have made way more sense for the lead element to mark the path, but she hadn't been thinking about it at the time. Now she’d have to hope that Thomas kept close or they would risk losing him and the rest of first squad at one of these damned intersections.  
Anna picked up the pace to try and halt Sergeant Solis in order to consolidate and reorganize when the latest tunnel abruptly opened into a large subterranean cavern. She have no idea how the geometry of this tunnel system worked because while it hadn’t seemed like they had been going that far down, the height of the stalactites that peppered the ceiling were almost lost in the darkness above her head suggests they must to have descended at least a hundred feet. Solis and second squad had stopped up ahead at the foot of a wide pool that dominated the cavern, reaching as far as she could see in either direction. Despite the size of the cavern, the air was closed and thick, smelling of rot. Anna looked behind and confirmed her fear; Thomas and first squad were nowhere to be seen.  
“Think this is as far as we go down this way, ma’am, less you brought a canoe with you.” Sergeant Solis said, pointing to the pool.  
“Knew I forgot something, Sergeant Solis. We have to go back anyhow; it looks like we lost the first somewhere along the way.”  
“You fucking kidding me?” Sergeant Solis snorted. “How the ever lovin' did they...”  
“Sergeant!” Bane shouted. “There's something in the water!”  
Solis and Anna turned simultaneously in time to see a small wave that rippled across the pool as something huge moved below the surface. There was a brief pause where all time and motion seem to stop before the water exploded and a deafening, inhuman roar echoed throughout the cavern.  
The creature was woven from pure nightmare. Rearing up out of the pool, the thing's head towered twenty feet above them. It resembled nothing so much as some kind of giant centipede crossed with a sea monster, the segmented sections of its body protected by a shiny carapace. Dozens of squirming legs protrude from its sides, each tipped with serrated blades. Near the base of its neck, two enormous tentacles like those of a giant squid flail about. The thing's head is the size of a small car. Despite this, its open mouth is simply...wrong; too wide, too many shark-like teeth. Its multifaceted eyes stare at us with a keen intelligence and an almost human malevolence. Time stopped as Anna made these observations in the fleeting instant before hell erupted around her.  
Sergeant Solis acted instantly, raising her carbine to her shoulder and dropping to a knee in one smooth motion, peppering the creature's face and neck with sharp, controlled bursts.  
“Dalue, put a grenade down that ugly fucker's throat! Coraine, you have two seconds to get the SAW rocking! Bane and Urtan, alternate your fire and aim for the eyes!” The squad leader's calm control does the trick. The monster roars again as it is enveloped in a storm of gunfire that goes on for the better part of thirty seconds. At some point Anna realized she had gotten down beside Sergeant Solis and added her own instrument to their deadly symphony. Anna was mindless of the sharp hisses passing close by as the cave was filled with deadly ricochets from the solid stone walls. Dust from hundreds of impacts fills the air and through her night vision the beast was lost in a haze of green powder. At last, the weapons ran dry and the firing stops. Anna dove behind a two foot high rock to her right to try and get some kind of cover, slapping a fresh magazine into her rifle. Around her she hear the soldiers of second squad quickly and professionally begin to reload their weapons. They were nowhere near fast enough.  
To Anna’s left, Coraine was struggling to load a drum into his SAW. From out of the haze the creature's tentacles whipped out too quick to follow. One slapped the machine gun out of his hands while the other enveloped his head and neck. His yell is muffled as he briefly struggles to remove the hideous limb from his face before the second tentacle wraps around his waist and yanks him out of sight into the cloud. Now accompanied by wet, ripping sounds, Coraines' screams grow higher in pitch until they are abruptly cut off.  
Anna could see Sergeant Solis and Bane a few feet to her right where they have taken cover in a similar position to her own. Bane jumps to her feet and sprints towards the machine gun lying on the cavern floor.  
Solis tries to grab her by the back of her body armor but misses. “Bane don't....dammit! Dalue, get another grenade ready, that fucker's still out there! Urtan, help me cover that idiot.”  
Bane slid up to the SAW like a runner stealing second in a ball game and ratcheted the new belt into the weapon.  
“Bane, get your ass back here behind cover NOW!” screamed Sergeant Solis.  
“Roger, I'm...” without warning the creature roars out of the cloud, its maw snapping shut around Banes' head and shoulders. As it lifts her bodily into the air, Bane squeezes the trigger spastically. With Banes being jerked around like a rat caught by a terrier, the SAW in her hands spits death at a rate of two hundred bullets a minute. Anna tried to make myself as small as possible behind her rock, fatal hisses and pops sounding all around her. Sergeant Solis grunts as a wayward round catches her in the lower leg. Specialist Dalue, raising to a knee to fire his grenade, drops without a sound in a spray of blood. From where Anna lay sprawled she could see his unmoving form, a dark pool slowly collecting around his head.  
The firing finally stops. Looking up, Anna saw the creature had tipped its head back and is using its tentacles to push Banes' still body down its gullet, body armor and all, its neck convulsing like a snake swallowing its prey. Anna realized they needed to get out of there, and fast.  
Pumped on adrenaline Anna’s own body armor felt almost weightless. She rolled from behind her rock, hopped to her feet and took two steps before diving down next to Sergeant Solis. She's managed to get her combat tourniquet around her leg but from the blood still pulsed out of the wound, it was obviously not tight enough.  
“We're tightening this tourniquet, then we are gone, Sergeant.” Anna hissed.  
“Dammit, ma’am, leave me. Get Urtan outta here. I'm just gonna slow you up with this leg.” Solis breathed.  
“Not a fucking chance, Soldier. Now try to hold still, this is going to hurt like hell.”  
Anna gripped the two ends of the windless and twisted. Anna heard Solis's breath catch in her throat beside her and hand gripping Anna’s arm contracted hard enough to leave bruises, but to her credit she doesn't scream. When Anna couldn’t twist any more, she secured the windless and threw Solis’s arm over her shoulder. Glancing up at the creature, Anna saw all that was left of Bane sticking out of the creature was from the knees down.  
“All right, back up the tunnel, before ugly notices us. Urtan! You've got rear security. Let's move!” Anna whispered hoarsely.  
They staggered to their feet and begin hobbling back the way they came, away from the horrors of the cavern. Urtan trailed a short way behind and throws furtive glances over his shoulder. Sergeant Solis tries to help as much as possible but is severely hampered by her wounded leg and their progress was slow. Far too slow. They made it perhaps two hundred yards when the creature let out a howl and Anna heard the unmistakable sounds of its enormous mass exiting the cavern pool. They stumble into the first of the tunnel intersections and Anna’s stomach dropped when she realize the path was unmarked. Three openings beckon from the far side of the intersection. Anna sat Sergeant Brown to the ground as easily as she could and frantically searched for any sign of their previous passage that might suggest which way to take, but could find none. Anna turned and looked at Urtan.  
“Shit. Urtan, this is a fucking terrible plan, but I've got no better ideas. We have to find Sergeant Thomas and make sure that somebody gets out of here alive so we can alert higher about this thing. You take the left tunnel, Sergeant Solis and I will take the middle. That gives us a two in three chance of picking the right one. If you find the platoon sergeant, priority is making it out to get reinforcements, then worry about coming back for us, got it?”  
“Roger, ma’am, I won't let you down.”  
“Ok. Get going, fast but careful and quiet.”  
Urtan took off down the left fork at a jog. Anna then looked over to her wounded charge.  
“Looks like it's just you and me, Sergeant Solis. Let's make the ugly fucker work for the rest of his dinner.” Anna threw Solis’s arm over her shoulder and they again staggered to their feet.  
Solis grimaced as they began to stumble up the middle path. “Unfortunately, ma’am, I don't think he's gonna have to work all that hard.”  
The woman was shaking. Now that her initial rush of adrenaline had worn off, it was only a matter of time before shock set in, Anna thought. If she didn’t get Sergeant Solis out of here quickly, she's going to be dead whether the monster found them or not.  
They hadn’t gone far when Anna heard a strange rolling sound, like far off thunder, issuing from back the way they had come. It could only be the noise of the creature's passage. Anna set Sergeant Solis down behind a slight outcropping of the wall and dropped to a knee as the sound got closer. For all the good it would do she raised her weapon and waited with her finger poised on the trigger. Anna’s hands were shaking and she realize just how terrified she was. The noise grew until it seems that the thing must be right on top of them. Every moment she expect its grotesque maw to appear down the tunnel, ready to devour them whole. Like Bane.  
Abruptly the sound begins to diminish. The monster must have chosen a different fork to pursue them. Anna struggled to get Sergeant Solis back to her feet again and they continued their slow crawl back up the passageway. Each time it was harder to get Solis up, and each time she was able to help Anna stagger along a little bit less. After perhaps two minutes Anna heard the unmistakable sound of gunfire issue a few sporadic reports before going silent. The thing must have found Urtan. It will surely be coming for them next.  
As the last of the echoes from the gunshots died away, Sergeant Solis's wounded leg buckles and she fell, dragging Anna to the ground with her. Anna rested for a brief moment before getting to her knees and attempting to stand, but she stumbled, both of them falling to the ground again. Groaning, Solis struggled to a sitting position, her back against the wall of the tunnel.  
“It's no good, ma’am. Round musta hit a damn artery. Lucky I made it this far.” Solis said weakly  
Anna nodded. “Well, we've got a lot farther to get you, sergeant, so we'd best be going.”  
Solis shook her head.  
“No, ma’am, I reckon that's not gonna happen. We both know I'm not making it out of this cave alive either way. And Thomas told me about the deal he was gonna make with you before coming in here and made me agree to back him up on it.”  
She gripped Anna’s arm.  
“We need you to get out of here, ma’am. It's like you told Urtan, this thing needs killing at all costs and that's more important than you, me, or anyone else. You're the only one who's seen this thing that even has a shot of making it, and you're sure as hell the only one that has any kind of chance of convincing higher ups that it's real. If I went to the general with this story and he'd have the MPs cart me off for sampling the local drug market.”  
She grimaces.  
“I've got my rifle and some grenades. I'll keep him off you as long as I can, see if I can't give that sonuvabitch the mother of all indigestion. But you've got to make it out, ma’am. For Bane and Urtun, for Dalue and Coraines. For those local kids. Someone needs to know and we need to stop this godforsaken thing.”  
She let go of Anna’s arm and sank back against the wall for a moment before sitting up and began to prepare her weapons. Lining up her grenades and taking out a handful of parachute cord from her pocket she starts to jury rig them so that one solid tug will pull the safety pins from all five grenades. Anna stood, unable to speak, knowing that the woman was right but feeling like she need to change that simple fact. There has to be some way she could change it. Not looking at Anna, her squad leader tied knots and continues to talk. A part of Anna dimly registers that the rumbling sound had started again, and was getting slowly but steadily louder.  
“And one other thing, ma’am, for me. There's a letter in the side pouch of my ruck sack. It's for my ex-husband and the kids just...if you get out could ya make sure they get it? And don't tell them what happened. Just that I was thinking about them, and that I love them. Even that cheating man. Tell him I shoulda tried harder.” She pauses for a moment and looks up at Anna. “Please.”  
Anna’s voice hitches. “Yeah. Yeah, absolutely, sergeant.”  
She returned to her preparations. “Appreciate it. It's been a pleasure serving with ya, ma’am. Now no intended disrespect, but get the fuck outta here.”  
Anna stood there for a long moment, unable to move, unable to speak, able only to look at her friend quietly preparing herself for death. Then, before she could change her mind, before she could truly think about what leaving one of her soldiers says about her as a leader, and a soldier, a friend, she turned and began making her way up the tunnel, the rumbling sound echoing and making Anna’s head pound in time to her racing pulse. All too soon, an explosion rocks the tunnel behind her, the creature's roar of rage so loud it threatens to shatter her ear drums.  
She ran.  
Anna’s lungs and legs were burning in concert. Breath heaved in her chest and she felt like she was going to throw up. The incline that was so unnoticeable during their descent now fought her with every step. At each intersection she took a path utterly at random. Terror had placed her mind on complete autopilot, her only thought was to try and put as much distance between herself and the thing as possible. Soon, she was hopelessly lost.  
Anna was not sure how long she had been going when the rational part of her brain regained control, but it couldn’t have been very long. Even though the entire expanse of the network looks similar, she was completely certain she hadn’t been down this pathway previously. As she continue forward she slowed her flight to little more than a fast walk. The pounding sound of the monster's passage had faded to a distant throbbing and the combat gear she was wearing wasn't designed for long distance running; best to conserve her energy for when she needed it. Even though she knew this isn't the way towards the entrance, something seems to draw her forward. It wasn’t anything particular that she could identify, but some kind of sixth sense, or perhaps a slightly less noxious quality to the air. The tunnel began to gradually narrow until it is little more than five feet wide. There is still plenty of space for her to make her way unimpeded, but the relatively small size of the tunnel could prevent the creature from following her. Abruptly the pathway dead ends in a wall of unyielding rock covered by a blanket of lichen. There's no exit this way, but she could stay here. She could be safe.  
‘Yeah, starving to death might actually be worse than letting that thing eat me.’ Anna though bitterly.  
She ran her hands along the wall searching for any sign of a way through or around, not really expecting anything, when she noticed a small alcove obscured by the vegetation. She reach inside and her questing hand grasped something about the size of a plum. Removing the object she saw it is a perfectly round stone, polished smooth to the touch except for a second smaller circle slightly raised in its exact center. She removed her glove and found the stone to be oddly warm, almost as if it were somehow generating its own heat. The geometry is too perfect to have been formed by nature and must have been made by someone. Whatever it is, that someone went to a great deal of trouble to hide it where it would be almost impossible to find. Anna’s thoughts returned to the unnaturally smooth walls of the entrance to the cave and the strange luminescent symbols that covered them.  
As if in response to her thoughts, the edge of the stone begins to softly glow. Upon closer inspection she saw that the same type of symbols had been etched along its outer circumference. The detail is astounding; by her best reckoning the piece was ancient, but the markings are so finely wrought that it must have been a truly master craftsman to inscribe them.  
She tried to put together the messy pile of jigsaw pieces presented to her. There was obviously a connection between the entrance of the cavern and this stone. Also, at some point someone hid it deep within a twisting subterranean labyrinth and protected it with a giant centipede monster. That means it's somehow important.  
‘Unless that monster's not a guard, but a prisoner...maybe those markings at the entrance were what was keeping it in the cave? There was a break in the pattern where the roof fell in. Maybe that's what started this whole mess. No real point in thinking about it too hard since it won't do me any good if I can't get out of here.’  
out  
Anna heard the word in her head as clearly as if someone had spoken it aloud. It startled her so badly that she almost fell over backwards, inadvertently dropping the stone which fell to rest upon the tunnel floor. Immediately upon leaving her hand the markings faded away, the stone laying on the ground like any normal piece of rock. Hesitantly she reached down and picked it up again, the markings glowing back to life at the touch of her bare hand.  
“Was that you?” Anna spoke aloud, “Did you say something to me?”  
With all the weird things that had already happened to her today, a magical talking stone barely cracked the top three.  
‘Or you're just losing your damn mind, Demorah. The mental shock of giant monsters and having your troops eaten in front of you might be sending you over the edge. You should probably accept the fact that you're going to die down here, you coward, one way or the fucking other. Like Bane and Coraine, ripped apart in the jaws of that thing. Be a soldier and accept it like Sergeant Solis did. No stone is going to help you find the way out’.  
out  
The word repeated itself in her head and this time she manage to keep enough control of herself to avoid dropping the stone. As she stood there, a feeling comes over her that urged her to walk back down the tunnel away from the dead end. It was similar to the urge that drew her that way in the first place, but is undoubtedly stronger. With no better options she started walking, and soon realize she knew how to get back to the entrance. It was not that she could lay out a specific path but more resembles how a person walks a familiar route while thinking of other things; the subconscious mind takes over. As she reached each intersection she knew without a doubt which way to take. Anna moved cautiously while listening for any sign of the monster, keeping one hand on the stone and the other on the grip of her weapon. Soon she reached an intersection where five different tunnels converged. An IR chem light glowed softly by one of the forks.  
“Holy shit, sir! Sergeant, she's over here!” Specialist Juno, one of the members of first squad, was pulling guard from the marked tunnel. Suddenly Anna’s platoon sergeant was there, followed closely by the squad leader, Sergeant Arnin. In his relief, Thomas's usual professionalism cracked just a bit.  
“God, you had me worried, ma’am. When we got to this fork I had no idea which way you went and didn't want to risk just randomly wandering off down one way or the other in case I guessed wrong. Figured you'd realize we'd lost you eventually and hopefully just make your way back to us. Then we heard some gunfire a little while ago but couldn't tell where it was coming from, what with how much these things twist and turn, but I was about to say fuck it and head out looking for you and...” Troy pauses, his gaze focused down the tunnel behind me as if he's just realized something. “ma’am, where's Solis and the other squad?”  
‘Dead. Dismembered. Parts of them roaming around in the belly of a beast. They didn't have a magic stone hee hee hee.’ Anna thought bitterly.  
Inside her head, she fought to hold down the part of her brain that threatened to send her over the edge into blessed madness. She gripped the stone in her hand tighter.  
“They're gone, Sergeant Thomas. And we need to get the hell out of here.”  
“You're not saying...” Thomas couldn’t finish.  
“Polus was telling the truth, about all of it. And this thing...we can't stop it with anything we have on us. Sergeant Solis and the others did everything they could to make sure I made it back. We need to leave. Now.” Anna turn to her squad leader. “Sergeant Arnin, get us the fuck out of here.”  
The levity of the moment is instantly gone. Arnin snaps into motion. “Roger, ma’am. Cratz and Jomar, lead out. Ma’am, you and Sergeant Thomas right behind so you can figure out the plan on the go. I've got rear security with Piker and Antov. Quick and quiet.”  
They began moving smartly up the tunnel back towards the entrance, the gentle mental nudges from the stone confirming the route laid out by the chem lights. Thomas shadowed Anna.  
“Ma’am, what are you thinking?” Thomas asked quietly.  
“Get out. Then blow the entrance. We can't leave it open to allow this fucking thing free reign to come and go as it pleases. There might be other ways out but they might not be big enough to accommodate it, or at the very least might take it farther away from populated areas. Get back to base and figure out how I'm gonna tell the general what happened here.” Anna answered  
“There's no chance that Solis or any of her squad made it?”  
“No. Urtan is the only one I'm not a hundred percent sure of, and the risks of leaving the hole open are way too big compared to the odds I'd give him. Besides, we can use that as additional leverage on the old man to make sure we get some reinforcements down here. He might not believe in monsters, but he's sure going to send us some help to find a soldier lost and trapped in a cave.”  
Thomas nodded his head in agreement. “Sounds about right to me, ma’am. Tell you the truth, I'm hoping we can get it to work as smooth as that.”  
“What? Why wouldn't it?”  
“Well, while I had the squad hunkered down waiting for you, we heard some weird noises. Made me think that maybe parts of the tunnel were caving in all on their own. Hubar's a bright kid though and I'm sure he'll call for help if we don't show up soon.”  
Anna grabbed Thomas’s arm and held him up short. “Sergeant, what kind of noises?”  
“Ah hell, ma’am, some kind of deep thrumming. Sounded like it started out near us and then was moving back away towards the entrance. Cave in was the only thing I could think of that it could be.”  
“Oh shit. Oh fucking shit. Sergeant, we need to stop. Jomar, Cratz, hold up! Everyone bring it in.” Anna looked around wildly as the squad converged on her. They were standing in the middle of a rather large intersection, about fifty feet across, with four passageways leading into it including the one they just came from.  
danger  
The thought flashed through Anna’s head as powerful as a bolt of lightning. Apparently the stone was sensitive to certain environmental conditions, and the creature appears to be one of them. Arnin jogged up to her.  
“Sir, what's...”  
“It's smart.” Anna gasped. “It didn't know which path we were on but knew we'd go for the entrance. It's lived down here, probably knows all the different ways through these tunnels. It circled around us to set a trap.”  
danger  
Thomas glanced at Sergeant Arnin before looking back at Anna.  
“Are you sure, ma’am? That seems a little more intelligent than I'd expect from some kind of animal.” Thomas said with skeptism in his voice.  
“It's different, sergeant, it's not just an animal. You didn't see it, didn't see how it picked us apart. It's waiting for us and we are going to walk right into it if we don't...”  
DANGER  
The thought slapped Anna like a physical force, strong enough that she reflexively grabbed her head with her hands.  
‘Why can't they see? Why can't they believe me?’ Anna thought desperately.  
“Gah!” Anna cried out. “We need to set up a defensive position. It's our only chance. Maybe we can get lucky and find a weak spot or...  
DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER DANGER  
Anna screamed. The thought was like a nail being driven through her head, a claxon blaring next to her ear. The stone still in her hand, Anna collapse to her knees. The fall saved her life.  
From one of the tunnels, the creature's tentacles flash out like spears. If Anna hadn't been moving the first would have caught her directly in the back of her head and killed her instantly at the same moment the second removed Sergeant Arnins' head from his body. As it is, the hideous limb only struck heavily on her right shoulder. By some insidious design of nature, the tentacle was tipped with razor sharp spikes that left deep gouges in Anna’s back, through body armor and all. The force of the blow threw her bodily forward and she hit the wall face first before rebounding and crumpling to the tunnel floor. Anna lay on her back, dazed, and felt a cold numbness start to spread from the wound. Whether from the blow or some poison injected by the claws, she couldn’t move. Helpless she could only lie motionless and listen to the pandemonium unfold around her.  
Oh God-blam-the fuck is that-blamblam- It hurts-blamblamblam-please don’t-blamblamblamblam-Noooooooo- blamblamblamblamblamblam…… 

As Anna laid paralyzed on the floor of the tunnel, the screams and gunfire seem to extend for an eternity. Where she expect her shoulder to be on fire from the gashes gouged into it, she felt only a seeping cold that deadened the feeling in her entire body. She desperately try to move her limbs to no avail.  
Maybe it's not poison. Maybe when you hit that wall you just broke your damn neck. Now you get to wait until your turn on the dinner plate.  
Suddenly the ceiling started moving. It was Sergeant Thomas, pulling Anna backwards up the tunnel by her body armor.  
“Come on, Ma’am, let's go! -huph- told you I'd -whuf- be pulling your ass out of the fire if this thing turned sideways. Just didn't -huh- figure it'd be so damn literal.”  
Anna tried to respond, but even her vocal cords won't cooperate.  
Got to be poison then. Broken neck wouldn't keep me from talking. Wonder if it’s fatal or if the effects are just temporary. Wonder if I'll get the chance to find out. God, how terrible. I might not even be able to scream while I'm being eaten.  
They didn’t make it very far. Thomas wasn't in bad shape by any means, but trying to drag dead weight uphill at any kind of speed is almost impossible under the best of conditions, which these most definitely were not. After only a few seconds, the last of the gunshots and moans briefly give way to a pregnant silence before the monster lets loose a triumphant roar. Its hunt is at an end. The now familiar sound of the creature's movement starts again. Looking over Anna back down the tunnel, Thomas saw it coming. Almost gently he laid Anna to the ground before raising his weapon and stepping over her body, positioning himself between her and the oncoming horror. The rumbling is impossibly loud; if Anna weren't completely numb she could probably feel the very walls of the tunnel shaking. Thomas began firing.  
“Hey, you ugly motherfucker!”-blamblamblam- “You want her?” -blamblamblamblam- You're gonna have to come through me, you sorry sack of shit!” -blamblamblambla---click* “Dammit!”  
Thomas dropped his rifle and transitions to his pistol but the thing is on him, tentacles wrapping around his waist and neck and lifting him into the air towards its slavering jaws.  
“Fuck you!” Thomas emptied the entire magazine into the monster's face at almost point blank range. It roared in fury and reeled back slightly before recovering, whipping Anna’s platoon sergeant like a rag doll and slamming him first off one wall, then the other, again and again. Anna could hear bones snapping with every impact. Finally it stops, and holds Thomas's broken body up to its massive head, suspended from his arms and held precariously above its open maw. Then, of all the unbelievable and horrific happenings of the day, the most astounding occurs. The creature started to speak. Its voice was harsh, like a band saw cutting through metal, and sounds utterly wrong coming from such a being. Despite that, Anna have no problem interpreting its words.  
“Foolish mortal. You would stand against one born of the outer Dark, we who have truly ruled this world since time immemorial? You throw your shallow life away. But fear not, your sacrifice is not in vain. Indeed, this one hungers. Your misguided courage will be most satisfying, your loyalty most savory. Take pride, little morsel, in the sustenance you give your master.”  
With that it begins to slowly lower Thomas into its waiting jaws, taking obvious pleasure in the anticipation. Anna then redouble her mental efforts but her limbs still wouldn't respond.  
Dammit, no! Not like this! Not like this!  
NO  
The word was like a gong, filling and reverberating through the air even though Anna knew it was only in her head. She feel a blinding heat radiating from her hand, pushing back the terrible cold of the creature's poison. She realized that, incredibly, she still holding the stone. Somehow, the monster heard the pronouncement as well, causing it to pause and shift its gaze to her. “Impossible! The Light is lost, the true Guardian is no more! She is long dead!”  
Suddenly Anna could move again. She leapt to my feet, the paralyzing numbness of a few moments ago already a distant memory. The relic glowed with a terrible light, its raised center piece and markings burning as brightly as the sun. Whether through some reflex or from the mental nudges of the stone Anna raise the hand holding it toward the monster. The heat continues to build until it felt as though Anna’ entire being was filled with it, too much for her to contain, so much that she would surely burst if she didn’t release it. So she did.  
The entirety of the power coalesces in a tiny ball somewhere deep in Anna’s chest before shooting down her arm towards the stone. An enormous wash of flame erupts from the center of the relic and blasts the monster full on in its horrific face, its head catching on fire. The thing rears back to its full height, its mouth open wide in a silent scream of agony. The tentacles holding Sergeant Thomas are neatly seared off and he drops bonelessly to the ground in a heap. Anna rushed to her fallen platoon sergeant.  
There was no time to check and see if Thomas was still alive; they needed to get out now before the thing recovered. With remains of the power still sing throughout her body, Anna quickly picked Thomas up and threw him across her shoulders as easily as she would a child. She began running up the tunnel towards the entrance.  
They just make the section near the entryway marked by the strange runes when Anna’s supernatural strength began to fade. The open entrance beckons as she struggled towards it, every step harder than the last. Now that the strength of the relic had faded all that remained was overwhelming exhaustion, even more so due to the extra energy she’d expended already. Anna’s limbs were wooden planks that fought against her mental commands. Although her night vision goggles were broken when the monster threw her against the wall, the flashing lightning from the storm raging outside and the still present mental urges of the relic guided her way. The creature screamed behind her.  
“No! This cannot be! Mother will not allow! Mother will protect me! Impudent child, I will feast on your soul!”  
With a roar it threw itself forward in pursuit. Anna chanced a glance backward and see it coming by the light of the storm and the glowing runes, its many legs churning terribly. Its eyes were melted and blinded by the fire, its rage the only thing driving it forward. It was moving far too quickly, gaining ground far too fast.  
A last burst of effort sent Anna through the entrance and out into the howling storm before she stumble and sprawled to the ground, the dead weight of Thomas's body pinning her down. Desperately she tried to roll out from under him, struggling to reach the detonator in her pocket. The creature was only fifty feet away down the tunnel when she managed to grasp the device, disarm the safety, and squeeze the trigger.  
Sergeant Thomas made his preparations well. Instantly upon activating the detonator, a deep boom emitted from inside the entrance and the tunnel collapsed upon itself. The creature issued a final scream echoing over and above the fury of the storm as Anna watch its burial by tons and tons of unfeeling rock. She have no way of knowing for sure if it was alive or dead, but at least for the time being it won't be able to follow the. It was over.  
With no time to bask in her victory, Anna instantly turned her attention to her platoon sergeant. She slipped the relic into her pocket before gently rolling him over while supporting his neck. She tried to find a pulse. Anna felt a great swell of relief when she found one, weak but steady. His breath is shallow and he required immediate medical attention, but Thomas is alive. Her driver Hubur came sprinting up from the truck.  
“Oh my God! Ma’am, what the fuck happened in there? Where is everybody?”  
“We're the only ones who made it.” Anna gasped “No time to explain, but we can't stay here. We have to get Sergeant Thomas back to the patrol base and get him on a bird to the Enclave ASAP, then we can worry about the others. Help me get him into the truck with doc, then we need to call back and tell third squad to get a medevac inbound.”  
“Roger, ma’am, but I think we might have a problem with that. I've been trying to call back for the last hour or so but can't get any response. Think the storm might be interfering with comms.”  
“Dammit. Ok. But we have to move. Help me get him up.” Anna said gripping Thomas’s arms  
They managed to wrestle Sergeant Thomas's limp body into the truck with Anna’s medic who immediately begins working on him.  
“He's really bad, Ma’am, but if we can get a bird in he's got a chance. Might be tricky convincing higher to authorize one with this storm.” The medic said as he worked  
“I don't give a shit about that. Keep working on him, doc. Let's go, we're wasting time. Everybody mount up. White light the whole way back, convoy speed is as fast as we can go without flipping a vehicle. I'll keep trying to reach the patrol base on comms.” Anna said as she buckled up.  
Fortunately her earlier fears of getting a truck stuck due to the rain were unfounded. Whether by luck or fortune the ground was still solid enough that they made it back to the roadway without any issues and were soon speeding along the highway back towards the patrol base. Anna continued to try to raise third squad left on guard but, just as Hubur said, the only thing she got on the radio was static. If we get back and I find they were screwing off I just might kill the lot of them myself she thought.  
They made the trip in less than half the time it had taken to get to the cave. Within twenty five minutes they were rolling through the gate of the patrol base. Anna jumped down and ran over to the truck with the medic to help lift Thomas down on the stretcher and they begin to carry him inside.  
“Think I got him stabilized, sir! We get a medevac in here within the hour, I think he's gonna make it!” the medic said as he walked along side holding an iv bag.  
Anna was not as sharp as she usually was. Granted, she was exhausted and bit distracted by the events that have unfolded already this evening, and was currently preoccupied with trying to save the life of her platoon sergeant. Nevertheless, she'd like to think that ehe would have typically noticed how ominously dark and quiet the patrol base was, the telling lack of a guard at the entrance or of anyone to greet them as they came in, but for some reason these things didn’t register. Needless to say she was completely surprised when the explosive spell goes off.  
“Wake up, Colonel Demorah.”  
A voice urged Anna out of the blackness. She had no idea how long she’d been out. Surrounded by Imperials armed with stolen Deluran weapons, she found herself tied to a chair. Looking around she saw that she was inside her command post, the radios and computers stacked in a smoking pile of metal and wires. Across from her Hubur and Sergeant Thomas were tied to chairs in a similar fashion, her platoon sergeant was still unconscious. Next to them stands Freddan Polus. Robinson is awake and has obviously been tortured. Shallow cuts cover his body and he moaned to Anna through a mouth of mush, his teeth unwillingly removed.  
“Mah, Mah, thuh kill da othuhs! Thuh sad thuh gonna....” -BANG-  
Polus drew his stolen pistol and casually shot Anna’s driver in the head.  
“Polus, you fucking animal, what did you do? What the fuck did you do?” Anna snarled  
The Imperil thug smiles. “Ah, Colonel Demorah. Do I really need to explain this to you?” He leaned forward, stinking of sweat and blood. “I. Hate. You. You Delurans invaded the Empire, killed thousands of people and stole our lands. I would do anything, anything at all, to rid myself of all your kind. I would go so far as to go into the forest searching for a beast, a legend, at the barest chance that it might help me drive you out of my country.” He stepped away and walks over behind Thomas. “Marring the runes holding it in its prison was easy enough. The necessary sacrifices to engage its services were...distasteful I suppose, but I have many more men and I would offer up a thousand children if it meant the power to be done with the Deluran occupation once and for all.” As he was talking Anna started trying to work her hand free into her pocket where she could still feel the relic.  
If I can only get it...  
“You were supposed to die in that cave, Colonel Demorah, yet here you are alive and whole.” He stroked Thomas's head, pulling it back by the hair and baring his neck. “Had the spawn of Evernight managed to end your pathetic existence I would never have had to resort to these more direct methods.” With his other hand he removed a large knife from his belt. “Alas it was not to be. Fortunately I have no problem getting my hands dirty from time to time. All hail The Empire. Death to the Delurans.”  
Anna’s squirming hand grasped the relic at the exact moment Polus plunged the knife into Thomas's throat. Her vision went red with rage.  
DEATH  
The power filled Anna instantaneously, somehow even greater than before, a star gone supernova appearing in the space where her heart should be. An explosion, as closely related to the earlier magic blast as a hurricane to a raindrop, obliterated the chair Anna was strapped to, the room, and everyone in it. They had no time to cry out, no time to even realize what is happening. The purifying fire was indiscriminate and complete in its destruction.  
Anna collapsed to the ground naked, the ruins of her command post smoldering around her. The roof was gone along with the walls. The still falling rain washed over her and begins to put out the smoldering wreckage. Blessed blackness called and her mind, exhausted from a night of terror and sorrow, and she gladly answers. She fell into unconsciousness, uncaring if she would ever wake up.


End file.
